The writing of Julia Alvarez incorporates her vivid memories of childhood in the Dominican Republic, which her family fled in 1960, and the subsequent adjustment to a new life in New York City. Alvarez first made her mark as a poet but is best known for her novels, particularly the award-winning How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991), In the Time of the Butterflies (1994), and Before We Were Free (2003).